listen for
idiom
: to pay attention to sounds in order to hear (something expected)
We listened for (the sound of) his footsteps.
We saw lightning and listened for the thunder.
Examples of listen for in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Monitor the sky for threatening signs and listen for the sound of thunder.
—
Bay Area Weather Report, Mercury News, 14 Oct. 2025
Unlocking quantum gravity Gravitational waves, which are ripples in the fabric of space-time first predicted by Einstein, are typically detected at low frequencies by observatories like LIGO and Virgo, which listen for signals from events such as black hole collisions.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 10 Oct. 2025
Monitor the sky for threatening signs and listen for the sound of thunder.
—Southern California Weather Report, Oc Register, 27 Sep. 2025
The stopgap solution here would be to put your ear to the ground and listen for this need under the demand, and responding to it directly.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for listen for
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Bay Area Weather Report, Mercury News, 14 Oct. 2025
Unlocking quantum gravity Gravitational waves, which are ripples in the fabric of space-time first predicted by Einstein, are typically detected at low frequencies by observatories like LIGO and Virgo, which listen for signals from events such as black hole collisions.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 10 Oct. 2025
Monitor the sky for threatening signs and listen for the sound of thunder.
—Southern California Weather Report, Oc Register, 27 Sep. 2025
The stopgap solution here would be to put your ear to the ground and listen for this need under the demand, and responding to it directly.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for listen for
Cite this Entry
“Listen for.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/listen%20for. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
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